Judge Moves Judas Priest Trial to Recording Studio

The Judas Priest trial moves from a courtroom to a recording studio today to allow a judge to hear for himself whether the heavy metal band’s music includes the subliminal messages that allegedly drove two young men to suicide.

Nevada District Judge Jerry Whitehead will convene his court in a Reno studio to listen to recordings of the original 24 tracks that were mixed into the “Better by You, Better Than Me” on the album “Stained Class.”

Lawyers for the British rock group and CBS Records Inc. say they will also present testimony from the album’s sound engineer and producer that there were no phrases such as “do it” hidden in the song.

Relatives contend that subliminal messages in the music drove Raymond Belknap, 18, and James Vance, 20, to their deaths in a 1985 suicide pact.

Final arguments in the case are expected Wednesday or Thursday. Whitehead has indicated he will render a quick decision.

Kenneth McKenna, a lawyer for the Belknap family, said that he thinks there has been adequate evidence that the phrase is concealed in the music and that it prompted the young men to shoot themselves with a shotgun after drinking beer, smoking marijuana and listening to Judas Priest records for hours.

Lawyers for Judas Priest and CBS Records deny there is anything hidden in the music.

The trial has become a battle of contradictory testimony from sound and computer engineers, psychiatrists and psychologists.

Lawyers for the families have not indicated how much in damages they will seek. Vance lived for three years after the suicide attempt, but his face was badly disfigured and hospital bills amounted to more than $400,000. He died in 1988 of complications from the wound.